


The Aftermath

by Stephen_Tony_Loki27



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 20:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19911985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stephen_Tony_Loki27/pseuds/Stephen_Tony_Loki27
Summary: The superheroes had done it. They had defeated Thanos and brought back those lost to the Snap, but at what cost? Ruæyn Duff, Scottish, Celtic, warrior, sorcerer and what humans refer to as 'Mother Nature', lost her two closest and only friends - Loki Odinson and Tony Stark - to the Mad Titan. After the funeral, she swore she would never have anything to do with any of them again. That lasted for a good two weeks, until Stephen Strange stepped straight into her life to draw her back into his. A face from the past has re-emerged, alive - which she would have deemed impossible had it been anyone else - and is ready to carry on taking over the world. Apparently, Ruæyn is the only person who can do anything - but is she willing to try?





	The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome everyone! Be warned, mild angst throughout, heavy angst in the first chapter. I'm assuming you've all seen Endgame, but in any event, Endgame spoilers! This fic is based on seeing Tom Hiddleston's interview about the new Loki series (if you haven't seen it, type in 'Tom Hiddleston SDCC 2019'), I can't wait! And what can I say - I felt inspired. Ruæyn Duff is my OC, you pronounce her name Roo|ay|n. She features quite a bit in my works. Also, 'Major Character Death' refers to Tony and Nat - no one actually dies in this fic. Enjoy!

Ruæyn Duff walked slowly through her 16th century Highland manor house, the ancestral home of her family. This was incredibly unusual for her - she usually never stood still. She hummed a quiet Scottish folk song, incredibly lacklustre compared to her usual rowdy singing. She still hadn’t recovered from the loss of Tony ... and Loki. Ruæyn trailed her fingertips along window ledges and stone walls, sighing deeply through her nose. She gritted her teeth and growled upon realising she’d let a tear fall.   
/Never again. Never again do I cry for another. You wanted my help, Steve. You begged me for it. Now look what’s happened! I told you. I told you it would all go wrong if I got involved, and here we are. Others will say we’re the heroes of the world, getting back everyone who was lost to the snap. But what of our losses? They were our friends. Our family. Well no more. Never again. I never want anything to do with you lot again!   
And with that she had left. She’d walked away from the glory, from the papers, from the superheroes she’d worked so closely with, from the funerals of those they’d lost in the process. She had cried on that day. In front of them. For the only time in her life, at the loss of her two greatest and only friends. Then, she’d portalled back to Scotland. Back to her old life, her empty house, which had never been lonely. Not until now, anyway./  
That had been two weeks ago. She had been to Tony’s funeral, standing at the back, closest to the house he’d gotten for his family, a family that he’d barely got to have. And as for Loki? He didn’t even get a funeral. Asgard was destroyed, his parents dead, the last of his people lost to the black void of space and all these years later, his brother now a drunk. There was nothing left to bury. Being a green witch as well as what humans called ‘Mother Nature’, she had held a private ritual for him at the time - crystals, herbs, a few soft words she thought she’d never have to hear herself say aloud. None of the others knew, not even Thor. This was her way of honouring his memory. She clung to it desperately; it was all she had left of him.   
Wrenched from her thoughts by a nail piercing her foot, her breaths became louder and laboured, morphing into gasps that for all the world had to offer could not rid her of her grief. Ruæyn collapsed to her knees, finally allowing her wails to echo through the cold, empty corridors, the last of a time she could never return to. She buried her face in her hands, screaming as loud and for as long as she could in the way that wolves honour their dead - howling. There were no wolves left in Scotland, but she felt them from all around the world, all howling with her. She failed to notice the claws of her true form protruding from her fingertips, drawing bleeding crevices into the sides of her face. The blood ran down her arms and dripped from her elbows, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.   
She threw her head back and screamed again, incapable of stopping the tears. The loss was too much. It was all just too much. She kept crying until there were no more tears to come, barely managing to drag her limp body back to the main room, curled up on the window seat and staring out at the blank canvas of grey drizzle coating her highland home. She was drained, of everything. It felt to her as though she would never reclaim any form of happiness. The thought of food or drink made her want to throw up, the thought of doing something was just as unbearable.   
She wasn’t sure how long she’d laid in this state, wrapped in a MacDuff ancient tartan blanket, breathing in the smell of centuries. It was late into the night when something finally changed.   
Ruæyn frowned when she felt a magic signature in the room behind her - orange, not her deep blue. With narrowed eyes, she turned to see sparks in the middle of it - someone was opening a portal into her house. Despite her misery, that was something she would not stand for. She threw the blanket aside and got to her feet, first two fingers of each hand extended, last two tucked under her thumbs. Her arms were spread wide and her magic tingled along them and into her hands, ready to murder whoever planned to - shocked, she stopped short when none other than Doctor Stephen Strange stepped through, sling-ring in his left hand and right hand still extended from casting the portal. All thoughts of murder flew from her head and her arms dropped to her sides. She was fairly certain her mouth had dropped open as well.   
“Stephen?” she asked disbelievingly, unsure if her own eyes were deceiving her.   
“Ruæyn. I know you told Steve you never wanted to see us again, and I do understand that. But there’s been some ... developments. I think that you’ll want to see them.” Ruæyn’s thoughts were racing. Though that was indeed what she had said, she had always kind of liked Stephen - in fact, out of those left, she was glad it was him standing before her now. Still, she was understandably suspicious.   
“And?” she questioned, eyes flashing slightly. The doctor paused for a moment, considering his next words. What he really wanted to do was made sure she was alright. He was no idiot, he could see how badly affected she had been by everything. At the same time, he also knew that it was pretty likely that, even now, she would rip his throat out if he asked.  
“And ... I need your help. We all do.” A low growl rumbled through the back of her throat at the mention of the others and she further narrowed her eyes. “Look, I get it, I do. When I first ... during my recovery,” he raised his trembling hands slightly “I just wanted to run away and never be seen again. But that’s just not how life works. You know that by now. So, I’m gonna be honest with you. After the funeral, we all watched you leave. You saw that. But what you didn’t see was afterwards, when Steve went back in time to return the stones to their separate timelines. He met Peggy, in the past, and chose to live his life with her. He came back as a ninety year old. Thor left with the Guardians, Hawkeye’s with his family, I believe Bruce’s name has been upgraded to ‘Brulk’, Tony and Natasha, well. I-”  
“Don’t.” Stephen nodded slightly at Ruæyn’s stiffened form, biting back his sarcasm for once.   
“What I’m saying,” he continued, “Is that the original Avengers are no more. That’s it. And most of the others have dispersed back to their families as well. Which currently leaves me, Wong, Pepper and Peter - assuming his aunt agrees - to deal with this mess. We don’t really have any thoughts, other than you might be able to get through to him.” Ruæyn’s mouth opened and closed several times, until she finally settled on a question.  
“Who are you talking about?” Stephen took in a deep breath to prepare himself.  
“Ruæyn ... Loki’s alive.”


End file.
